Vidya Bala

Well we know that Standard edition is a marketing joke - but it is something we cannot avoid considering when we can save about 30K per cpu.

The following features not being supported by standard edition had me surprised(there are a lot more but this caught my attention)

1)Reorgs: Online index build, online table reorg/redef, online index coalesce. Global index maintenance during DDL(some of the above we may overcome with third party LiveReorg Products)2)Recovery: block level media recovery, Tablespace point in time recovery.3)With 10g Std edition incremental backup and recovery is supported but not with 9i Std Edition - think of it which means you always have to do a full bkups.4)Indexes : Bitmap indexes are not supported while Function based indexes are supported in 10G Std edition.

on a noarchivelog mode database, recover database until cancel will still prompt for archive logs.This had me puzzled initially until I looked at the sequence number and realized, the sequence number corresponds to the online redolog (although the recovery command prompted for an archive log). When prompted if the appropriate online redolog is entered the Incomplete recovery will succeed.

while helping a colleague of mine install Forms and Reports Services , I realized that 10g Release 3 although available for download , the Forms and Reports Services component is not available for 10g Release 3 yet (only if I missed something). I was wondering if there was any talk on an ETA for Forms and Reports Services on 10g release 3.

This series will review the fundamental of the PowerCenter(7.1.2) Suite.The key components of Informatica are PowerCenter Client Tools, Repository Server, Power Center Server and the Repository. The Repository Server and the PowerCenter Server constitute the ETL Layer which does the ETL process.

Below is how the client to server communication flow looks like:The PowerCenter client sends a request to Repository Server.The Repository Server verifies the connectivity information of the target databaseThe Repository Server starts a Repository agent ProcessThe Repository Server uses a Repository agent process to communicate with the Repository.The PowerCenter Server process communicates with the repository to run scheduled workflows. When a workflow is run manually the Power Center Server uses the instructions configured in the mapping (stored in the Repository) to read , transform and write data. (details on what a workflow and mapping is discussed below).

Below are the key PowerCenter Client Tools:

a)Repository Manager: To create and manage repository, create and manage usersb)Repository server admin console: To manage the Repository Serverc)Designer Tools:(i)Source Analyzer: to import source definitions(ii)Warehouse designer: to import target definitions(iii)Transformation developer: a repository object that generates/modifies and parses data. This object can be reused .(iv)Mapping: a mapping is nothing but a set of source and target definitions linked by transformation objects. A mapping is what represents the data flow from source to target.Mapping Designer is used to create Mappings.(v)Mapplet designer: A mapplet is a set of objects that you use to build reusable transformation logic.(vi)Workflow: a workflow is a set of instructions that tells the Power Center Server how to execute a task. Workflow Manager can be used to create and run workflows. Workflow Monitor can used to monitor the running of workflows.(If you are new to the ETL world the above concepts may be overwhelming in the beginning, but as we go through other chapters you will be able to see how the concepts relate to the ETL process)

with all the rush before the holidays for getting things done - I really wanted to start this series before the Holidays. As mentioned in my earlier post , for somebody with ETL experience it gets difficult to evaluate different tools because not many are available out there to download and evaluate. On the same note except for manuals there is not much information on the web for ETL tools in general. I am hoping this series will help a few Niewbie's to Informatica(to jumpstart their work with Informatica) and ETL concepts explained with Informatica (Thanks to Mark Rittman for pointing out a possible site for an evaluation copy - Mark, finding the eval copy and the eval license codes was a treasure hunt on edelivery).

The series will cover the following TopicsInformatica Fundamentals (PartI and Part II)Informatica Eval InstallationInformatica Admin TasksInformatica Designer TasksInformatica getting familiar with Workflow Manager and Workflow MonitorOther Things to remember about Informaticathings to remember in the ETL world(basic concepts)

If you are following this specific series - please drop in comments and let me know if the series helps you get familiar with the fundamentals of Informatica.